[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-railhead-ambassadors":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Yesterday I got to be a RAILHEAD AMBASSADOR at a special early-preview event for \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a>'s upcoming novel, \u003Cb>\u003Ci>Railhead\u003C/i>\u003C/b>. (Look at me, being all railway and ambassadorial in gold braid and hat. Also slightly overheated.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_ambassador_zps9u5snyqs-0590d30291.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nFunnily enough, I used to go to lots of ambassadorial events when I first met my husband, when he was working for the British Embassy in Moscow. Back then, I was very studenty and didn't really have any dress-up clothes, so I pretty much wore black jeans, a velvet shirt and Doc Martens everywhere. All the foreign service wives had perfect English-bought clothes for every occasion and I always felt a bit awkward and gauche. So it was nice to be going to an ambassador event when I'd stopped caring about not blending in and could look like a twit with the greatest of joy, ha ha. \\r\n\\r\nAnyway, back to the book, and I'm really excited about this one. Here's a snapshot of one of the posters on display at the event:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_wrap_zpswvlwbs9h-69c194ba26.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more under the cut!-->\\r\n'Gentlemen Take Polaroids' is definitely my favourite train name. And here are the other assembled Railhead Ambassadors! Some of them had won a competition to attend, and others were young reviewers for the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site\">Guardian Children's Books website\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_group_zpsa8pidmj8-b9b21570e9.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere are a few of the tweets from Philip's first \u003Ci>Railhead\u003C/i> reading:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_twitter_zpsrw6rdcyg-96c5563d0a.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_twitter2_zpscif8132b-34c8f7d772.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nPhilip had a version of this video (without the text) playing behind him for part of the reading, with footage he'd shot on his travels, and music composed by his wife, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SarahReeve3\">Sarah Reeve\u003C/a> (aka Lufthansa Terminal). \\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"3131\"/>\\r\n\\r\nAfter the reading and Philip's answers to some very well-thought-out questions from the audience, we had drinks upstairs with Darren Hartwell from \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BookZone\">BookZone\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CalebWoodbridge\">Caleb Woodbridge\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/sisterspooky\">Laura Heath\u003C/a> of the aforementioned tweets. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_spooky_zpsbjwnk8zb-6b742044b3.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's Guardian Chidren's Book website editor \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/EmilyDrabs\">Emily Drabble\u003C/a> (who, incidentally, commissioned our \u003Ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2014/jun/25/seawigs-comic-strip-sarah-mcintyre-philip-reeve\">Seawigs Comics Jam\u003C/a>, my \u003Ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2015/jun/13/how-to-draw-a-hungry-t-rex-sarah-mcintyre\">How to draw a hungry T-Rex\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2014/sep/07/how-to-draw-jampires-sarah-mcintyre\">How to Draw Jampires\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2014/jul/30/how-to-draw-a-unicorn-summer-reading-challenge-sarah-mcintyre\">How to Draw a Silly Unicorn\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_emdrabs_zpskrhubqgs-922adb2368.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThen I got to meet some more of the ambassadors while Philip signed advance review copies for the guests. (This version isn't quite finished - there will be a few more tweaks and additions in the final version - but it's ready enough to show to reviewers, to give them an early jumpstart before the book comes out in the autumn.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_ambassador5_zpslsi4xozq-7678119fbd.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThese guys made me laugh. They're like, 'REEVE? We are going to CRUSH HIS VERY BONES.' \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_ambassador4_zpsvzapjxen-79ede19e2c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI'll look forward to reading their reviews! And I'll post a review here nearer to the publication date. But I CAN say that \u003Ci>Railhead\u003C/i> is ace. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_ambassador1_zpstnixkr8e-b73360a426.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_ambassador2_zpszx72clbz-0dce217240.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_ambassador3_zpsgtug7oxy-a66ba5dce5.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here's a good showing from the \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/OUPChildrens\">Oxford University Press\u003C/a> Railhead publicity team: \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/keobaxendine\">Keo Baxendine\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/LizScottPR\">Liz Scott\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/aleshabonser\">Alesha Bonser\u003C/a>. You can check out what people are saying over on the \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Railhead&src=typd&vertical=default&f=tweets\">#RAILHEAD\u003C/a> hash tag. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_team_zps9rqhxu2r-f958c97169.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nFunnily enough, on my way to meet Philip, I met a REAL train driver! In fact, I'd met \u003Cb>James Bacon\u003C/b> before at a comics convention, but I had no idea he drove the Heathrow Express. (How cool is that?) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_jamesbacon_zpshakytt2b-c74a0f8507.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\\r\nOne more thing: \u003Ci>Railhead\u003C/i> is Philip's solo book (I'm not a co-author), but there's been a lovely review of our joint book, \u003Ci>Oliver and the Seawigs\u003C/i> by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/PageFortyFive\">Stephen Holland\u003C/a> of the excellent \u003Ca href=\"http://www.page45.com/store/Oliver-And-The-Seawigs.html#SID=150\">Page 45 comics shop\u003C/a> in Nottingham. Stephen's a legendary reviewer, so I was hugely flattered to see that he'd taken time to focus on Seawigs, which isn't even a comic! I love reading his reviews: they're so exuberant, and he comes up with the most original descriptions and observations. And it's wonderful to see a review that talks so much about the illustrations (it's the first time I've ever seen someone describe something in my picture as 'wonky-woo', YESSS. Thanks, Stephen! You can read the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.page45.com/world/2015/07/page-45-comic-graphic-novel-reviews-july-2015-week-one/\">whole review here\u003C/a> (scroll down a bit). \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.page45.com/world/2015/07/page-45-comic-graphic-novel-reviews-july-2015-week-one/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/pg45_review_zps37p0alza-c8550f09b7.jpg\">\u003C/a>","2015-07-01T21:51:00.000Z","railhead-ambassadors",[],"railhead ambassadors",1776628727715]